First I have to post this precious picture of my drooler (not Jason) and her great socks. I just wish that she would keep them on!
Jason got Tana up from a nap and noticed a hand-print on her face - not just her fingers, but all the wrinkles and fingernails.
This year we didn't have a free weekend to head to a pumpkin farm to do the corn maze and all the other goodies, but we did head to Jason's parents who planted tons of pumpkins for the kids. Drew and Grandpa Jim were getting ready to cut one off the vine.
We tried to get a picture of the 4 kiddos, but Makenna wouldn't hold still. (My kids were angels for once - I am sure that will not be the case with Tana at Christmas.)
Grandma Janelle does a scavenger hunt with the kids' names pumpkins. Ally and Drew looked forward to this adventure. I was inside with Tana so don't know if hers were hid or not.
We also opened some presents for Makenna and Drew's birthdays. As a good aunt and uncle, Jason and I make sure that we get noisy toys. The kindness is typically repaid at other holidays and events. This year Makenna got a lovely guitar that plays annoying music. Fun by all I am sure. Makenna loves to dance so it is perfect for her (and her parents)! We are already looking for the perfect present for Christmas for her and her new little baby coming soon.
Ally is showing Makenna how to make beautiful music.
This is the face of a very content little girl. We have ventured into the cookies, crackers, cherrios, etc food group. She has two bottom teeth. 
But the disadvantage of this period of a young little girl is that she gets nasty and gross. Notice the chunks of goo in her hair, ears, eyes, nose and hands - GROSS!
Boy do we miss St. Louis! The first weekend of October we headed down to STL to visit some awesome friends, but also to catch the Cardinals final homestand for the '09 season. We left Friday morning and met up with the Scoggins at the Magic House.
Tana was really starting to want to play and loves the water. She was a happy clam sitting in this little chair splashing around. The other 4 were crazy and hard to keep an eye on. By the end of the day, there were 4 very tired parents!
They had a Curious George visiting exhibition. 
While at Randy and Melody's we had breakfast for supper. Ally helped Uncle Randy make the waffles. We always have to much fun while there! Thank you guys for opening your doors to our crazies!
We have been really wanting to head to a game, but with three kids it is hard to get away. They also "like" the Cardinals too - probably by default but it counts. We really wanted to take the big kids to their first game too. Ally had been several times when she was younger, but her last game was at 6 months - Tana's current age. We vowed never to take her again because she wouldn't sit still. (Still can't)
Tickets were hard to come by but Randy managed to get us some GREAT tickets to Sunday's game. We had a blast and enjoyed the game. We left a little early since it looked like they were gonna get stomped. By the time we got to the van they had tied it up. I was very frustrated, but glad we left. We had a long drive home. I think the Brewers won over an hour later. It was a rough end to a good season - maybe next year.
We took the kids to their elementary fun fair which was INSANITY!!! Tons of kids, silly games and stupid prizes equals a great night to my two yahoos. 
I am pretty sure that a couple of the prizes broke before we left the prize store. I have NEVER said - keep buying you still have money. They had so many tickets from their games. I would have been happy with out the junk that went straight to the trash when they went to bed - SHHHHHH.
Tana: Mom what is in there? Can he come out and play with me? I bet I could eat him..JPG)
We watched our friend's baby so they could go to the football game one Saturday. At first Tana just sat and looked at Jason, but then decided that he was boring. A few weeks later, she went to his house to play while his mommy watched her. She thought he was much cooler. Someday they might be able to date - we are still in negotiations with his parents.
Tana loves the water. We needed scrubbed down on Sunday morning so instead of getting her tub ready she jumped into the shower with one of us. 
I have gotten a lot of crap from my sister about not updating this blog - yes I must admit that it has been awhile, but give us a break we have three kids and work full time! We do believe in feeding them at a reasonable hour. By the time they head to bed, I am usually crashed on the couch or trying to plan for the next crazy day at school, but enough of the excuses here I go - there will be plenty of posts but I will start from where I left off.
We enjoyed (well really didn't enjoy) the Iowa vs. ISU football game with the Lapointe's. Ally is a Hawkeye and Nick is a ISU grad - so she usually dresses half the kids in Iowa and the other half in ISU. Glo was the lucky?? winner to wear the Iowa attire. We put these lovely girlies together and got some great pictures. .JPG)
These girls someday will be in a lot of trouble together, but for now they were happy to sit around with their parents..JPG)
The Hawkeye outfit must not be too important since it got left at our house and it is still sitting in our mud room ready to go to their house. I guess we should put it on Tana for one of the Iowa games!
Sometime during an arousing game of flashlight tag, Drew entertained us with some movie quotes.
I love the fire pit - if I didn't get so many bugbites from being out their I would do it more. Jason and the big kids went to get some wood while Tana and I got the hot dogs and s'mores ready. It was a lot of fun just sitting by the fire and roasting marshmellows. Not much more you can want on a Saturday night!
Just chatting with her Pop about boys I am sure and all of her boyfriends.
We had a hard time containing Drew. He just wanted to run and play in the yard.
Just the boys...
Girlies...
On the weekends we let our kids get dressed by themselves. Many times it just looks like Jason picked out their outfits though. After church Ally took her skirt off so she could help Jason clean up the pool and put it away. She came out in this stylin' shorts/shirt combo. 
Stripes and floral don't quite go - at least she matched the colors though.
Just because she is cute and holds still for the pictures. She has some crazy pants on too but her's match.
Our big girl is moving up. We had to pull out the other carseats because Tana's feet and head were hanging over the edge of her pumpkin seat (carrier). Doesn't she look so big?!?!
We get lots of comments of who Tana looks like. Who do you think she takes after? I think it is clear.
Tana typically takes a snooze either right before supper or while we eat. 
Somehow in the chaos tonight, she didn't get put down in time. We didn't want to wake her up, so we left her sleep on Jason's arm. I guess her Daddy isn't that exciting that he put her to sleep.
When it was time to clean-up he laid her on the table. We were still at the table so don't worry we were watching to make sure she didn't fall.
The post you have all been waiting for - first day of school. .JPG)
It has been a crazy month of August while I have been frantically getting my room ready at the new(ish) middle school. We have taken over the old high school. I like my room even though it is considerably smaller.
It is hard for me to enjoy getting my kids ready on the first day as I am in a rush to be ready for my own students to arrive. This year Jason did the duties and took them all to school and to Ms. Molly's. .JPG)
By the end of the day, Jason had finally sent me an email telling me about the morning. I was hysterically laughing and my advisory kids just looked at me like I had lost my mind - not anything new to them though.
Jason wrote:
While Ally and Drew were eating, I picked up Tana to start her bottle….ended up with an handful of s__t. She has a new outfit on…mine luckily survived.
Drew entertained us with his repertoire of standards jokes, but also added in an impression of a fish doing sign language. (by the way, did you know that one of our fish is currently named 'for free')
Parked at the back of a FULL parking lot and fought the crowd of parents escorting their kids to class and taking pictures at the door, the locker, their desk. Thought to myself that all these other parents were insane…….as I took out the camera and took pictures by the front of the building, at the lockers….
Ally basically couldn't get rid of me fast enough once we put her backpack in her locker. She kept trying to leg-hug me and run off to her room. I finally got a good hug at the entrance to her 'learning center' and sent her in.
Pictures from the day...
Our 1st grader! She is in Mrs. Matuska's class. She gets to see her kindergarten teacher as she also moved to North Bend Elem!.JPG)
She has her own locker - just her size!.JPG)
When did he get so big? Only 4 but this year might as well be his kindergarten year! He eats lunch with the big kids, he goes to music and before and after school with the older kids. Wow guess I won't have to cry next year..JPG)
He also has his own locker!.JPG)
With the middle school move this year, we had to part ways. It is sad but they have their own place. I couldn't keep watch over them forever (even though sometimes I would like to!) They are open enrolled at North Bend Elementary - still in the Clear Creek Amana School District. It is on our way to work and only a few minutes from our house - so far after 4 days we love it!
Watch out world - it won't be long until this girl is moving fast. She has to be so that she can get away from the big kids..JPG)
She is rolling proficiently. We aren't sure if she will crawl or flop like a seal.
This pool hasn't been used as much as we do on a typical summer, but this summer has been far from normal. But really what is normal - floods, hot weather, rainy? Tana doesn't usually get in since she is napping when the big kids play. She doesn't mind the water when we go to the pool, but doesn't seem to love it either..JPG)
Tonight we got out her floaty. She was chillin'. She loved it. Her little feet were kicking a mile a minute but still she was going nowhere. Next year will be interesting..JPG)
After a morning meeting at school, Jason came home early so that we could enjoy our last day before school starts as a family - at the FAIR! Now I know that I didn't start going to the fair until Jason and I met, but I thought I was the only one that hadn't been to the fair. We almost didn't go, but thanks to Uncle Chad who asked the kids when they were going - We didn't hear the end of that until we were in the van on our way to Des Moines.
This year we went through our typical route backwards since the first thing they wanted to do was the Little Hands Farm. We didn't get to play on the tractors or stay in the Varied Industry building as long as we would have liked, but we had fun.
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